Donna Vickroy

Columnist

Donna Vickroy was born on Chicago’s South Side and spent most of her formative years in the south suburbs, sharing a small bungalow with five siblings. She is a graduate of Richards High School in Oak Lawn and Illinois State University, where she spent two illuminating years working for the Daily Vidette. She began at the Daily Southtown back when it was called the Southtown Economist. She’s been a reporter, columnist and editor and has dabbled a bit in promotions, organizing contests for the Food and Family sections. Vickroy has received numerous commendations, including the Chicago Headline Club’s Peter Lisagor Award, as well as Associated Press and Illinois Press Association honors. She currently lives in Tinley Park with her husband, two daughters and their adorable but spoiled rotten silky terrier, Handsome Ted. When she isn't scouring the Southland in search of poignant stories to share, she enjoys long walks, reading, gardening, cooking, astronomy, travel and Chicago Cubs baseball (especially when they win).

Recent Articles

In the month since Bruce Smit apologized to sisters Kathleen Rys and Lorraine O’Kelly for sins he committed some 60 years ago when all were students at Monee Elementary School, the three have become friends. It is an unexpected outcome to a long torturous journey for all. “There’s a kind of peace...

Caps off to the class of 2018. As they prepare to bid adieu to high school and set forth on their next journey, we asked several to pause and share with us their story — where they’ve been, what they’ve overcome, what they’ve accomplished and where they’re headed. The result is a tapestry of determination,...

Caps off to the class of 2018. As they prepare to bid adieu to high school and set forth on their next journey, we asked several to pause and share with us their story — where they’ve been, what they’ve overcome, what they’ve accomplished and where they’re headed. The result is a tapestry of determination,...

Time to get dirty. The summer gardening season fast approaches and the Southland is blooming with news and opportunities to turn your thumbs green. Among the trends growing in popularity are raised beds, said Nancy Kreith, horticulture educator for the University of Illinois Extension, Cook County...

Around the time Dreyvon McCray was relearning how to walk and talk and live in a world in which a kid can be beaten into a coma over a cell phone, Terin D’amico was jumping out of airplanes and pondering a life after the military. In 2016, their paths crossed in the cafeteria at Governors State...

“Mother’s Day is coming and my day will be at the cemetery,” said Lisa Smith, fighting back tears. Her son Steven Smith, a Chicago Ridge police officer, was killed by a drunk driver in 2015. “It’s still raw,” Smith said. “It never goes away.” Addressing a group of more than 300 promgoers at Richards...

It’s a long journey from running solo on the mean streets of Chicago to settling in with a family, especially when you’re carrying the baggage of gunshot trauma. Yet, Gunner, the Siberian husky that was rescued from Chicago’s southwest side after being shot in the head in 2016, is on his way to...

The secret, says Chris Bartolini, is sugar. “We put sugar in our ricotta,” he says. “Everybody thinks it’s in the sauce, but it’s really in the cheese.” Chris and Dominic Bartolini, whose Midlothian restaurant was made famous by its 10-pound meatball sandwich and annual meatball-eating contest,...